With the advent of the digital era, practically all data nowadays—be they texts, pictures, voice recordings, videos, moving pictures, or otherwise—can be digitized or, in other words, converted into information in the digital format. The extensive use of digitization is attributable mainly to the following advantages of digital information:
(1) Data, once digitized, are transformed into binary codes consisting of “1” and “0”. As binary codes are chiefly differentiated by electric potential and can be incorporated with checking codes, information in the digital format can be reproduced again and again without being distorted; that is to say, the original content will be precisely preserved. For instance, after a magnetic tape is copied many times in a row, the analog music data stored in the tape will be adulterated by a lot of noise, and consequently the quality of sound played back from the last copied tape is compromised. By contrast, digitized music data can be copied repeatedly without damaging the clarity of sound.
(2) Digital information is compressible to reduce its own file size and hence can be transmitted in a larger quantity than analog information within the same period of time. For example, a cable used for cable TV can deliver at most a hundred channels in the analog format per day but two hundred channels in the digital format thanks to the compressibility of digital information. Therefore, the equipment costs of cable TV service providers can be reduced if the digital format is adopted.
(3) Digital information can be directly encrypted so that a person who owns the right to the information can limit the authority of its reader or make the information accessible only to readers of a certain authority level. This feature allows the right owner to manage confidential files effectively.
As digital information has the various benefits stated above, there has been a trend to digitize all useful data around us. As a result, many of the existing connection interface formats that were originally intended only for the transmission of analog information become out of date, and the related industry is forced to develop and establish interface specifications designed specifically for information in the digital format. In particular, the Digital Visual Interface (DVI), which is a novel connection interface for display devices, uses digitized transmission to enhance the visual quality of display devices used with personal computers. More specifically, DVI employs the Transition Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS) technology to transmit digital information and thereby ensure the transmission stability of high-speed serial data. Further, a DVI connector includes connection terminals for the traditional analog signals as well as connection terminals for digital signals and is hence equally applicable to digital screens and analog screens, thus increasing the convenience of use of DVI. Consequently, it is unnecessary for a consumer to replace a cathode ray tube (CRT) screen in good working condition with a digital one for the sole purpose of adapting to a DVI plug.
However, the conventional DVI connectors still have the following disadvantages in use:
(1) When transmitting high-frequency digital signals, a conventional DVI connector is subject to signal loss, leak, or interference, which impairs the quality of signal transmission.
(2) When a DVI plug is inserted into or pulled out of a conventional DVI connector, the connection terminals in the connector are easily displaced, thus resulting in poor electrical contact.
(3) In a conventional DVI connector, the thinnest connection terminal is no thicker than 0.3 mm. Therefore, if a factory worker trying to install a DVI connector on a circuit board fails to align the connection terminals of the connector with the corresponding through holes in the circuit board, the connection terminals are very likely to be bent. If the bent connection terminals are subsequently pulled back to their original positions, chances are the bent connection terminals will break, thus lowering the assembly yield of the connector.
Hence, it is an important subject for connector designers and manufacturers to develop a new connector structure capable of overcoming the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior art.